Three-Fifths Compromise

E61746

constitutional compromise historical agreement provision of the United States Constitution

The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement in the early United States that counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for purposes of taxation and representation in Congress, entrenching slavery’s political power.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Three-Fifths Compromise canonical	8
Three-fifths compromise	1

Statements (46)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	constitutional compromise ⓘ historical agreement ⓘ provision of the United States Constitution ⓘ
affectedGroup	enslaved people in the United States ⓘ
appliesTo	apportionment of seats in the United States House of Representatives ⓘ direct taxation among the states ⓘ
benefited	slaveholding states ⓘ
category	1787 in American law ⓘ Slavery-related legislation in the United States ⓘ United States constitutional history ⓘ
cause	entrenchment of slavery’s political power ⓘ overrepresentation of slaveholding states in Congress ⓘ
contributedTo	sectional tensions over slavery ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
dateFormulated	1787 ⓘ
defines	how enslaved people were counted for direct taxation ⓘ how enslaved people were counted for representation ⓘ
doesNotMean	that enslaved people were legally three-fifths of a person in all contexts ⓘ
endedEffectivelyBy	abolition of slavery in the United States ⓘ adoption of equal apportionment based on whole persons ⓘ
establishedRatio	three-fifths of all other Persons ⓘ
formulatedAt	Constitutional Convention ⓘ
formulatedIn	Philadelphia ⓘ
foundIn	Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution ⓘ
historicalPeriod	Founding era of the United States ⓘ
increased	influence of slaveholding states in the Electoral College ⓘ political power of slaveholding states ⓘ representation of slaveholding states in the House of Representatives ⓘ
influenced	balance of power between free and slave states ⓘ
legalStatus	superseded ⓘ
longTermEffect	impact on presidential elections through Electoral College apportionment ⓘ strengthening of pro-slavery coalitions in early U.S. politics ⓘ
moralAssessment	widely regarded as racist and dehumanizing ⓘ
negotiatedBetween	delegates from Northern states ⓘ delegates from Southern states ⓘ
partOf	United States Constitution ⓘ
purpose	to resolve dispute over counting enslaved people for representation ⓘ to secure agreement on the new United States Constitution ⓘ
relatedTo	Electoral College ⓘ surface form: Electoral College of the United States United States House of Representatives ⓘ direct taxes in the early United States ⓘ slavery in the United States ⓘ
scope	federal representation and direct taxation only ⓘ
supersededBy	Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ surface form: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Thirteenth Amendment ⓘ surface form: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
textualPhrase	three fifths of all other Persons ⓘ

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Constitutional Convention → significantEvent → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Fugitive Slave Clause → relatedTo → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Pierce Butler → supported → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

this entity surface form: Three-fifths compromise

United States congressional apportionment → historicallyInfluencedBy → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Philadelphia Convention → compromiseReached → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Article I Section 9 Clause 1 of the United States Constitution → relatedTo → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Slave Trade Clause → relatedTo → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Direct Tax Clause of the United States Constitution → historicallyAssociatedWith → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ

Sherman Compromise → relatedTo → Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ